LITTLE GIRLS

LITTLE GIRLS began in January 2009 as the solo recording project of multi-instrumentalist Josh McIntyre who, at the time, was one-half of Toronto shoegaze duo Pirate/Rock. Josh posted two songs on the web under the pseudonym “Little Girls” to preserve his anonymity. The songs got positive mentions from tastemaker blog Gorilla vs.Bear, among others, and quickly logged thousands of plays.

In less than two years, McIntyre has released five singles, two EPs and an LP, on a variety of independent labels, including Brooklyn-based Mexican Summer and Captured Tracks, and Sixteen Tambourines in Japan. Meanwhile, Little Girls has been touring as a four-piece band, completing a major North American tour in late 2009, followed by numerous forays into the U.S. and throughout Eastern Canada, including appearances at NXNE (Toronto), SXSW (Austin, TX) and CMJ (NYC).

The music combines elements of new wave and post punk with layers of fuzz to create murky yet melodic walls of sound. Influences are drawn everywhere from both ’80s post-punk as well as hip hop production of the late J Dilla.

Little Girls’ press exposure has included “Essential Tracks” honours in the Globe and Mail (Toronto) and “New Band of the Day” in the Guardian (U.K.), as well as a NOW Magazine cover and coverage in Dazed and Confused, Eye Weekly, Nylon and Fader, among many others.

“Little Girls’ surges of pop genius suggest they won’t have to settle for worship from just the underground.” (Exclaim!)

“It was [Jesus and Mary Chain’s] … garageland redefinition of Spector’s Wall of Sound that presumably informed McIntyre’s approach to production, somehow muddy and murky yet epic and grandiose, like the Cure circa Pornography playing Be My Baby at a funeral.” (Guardian UK)

“Little Girls tap into a shoegaze groove that’s compelling not because it’s weird, but because even in that weirdness, there’s an accessible energy, a bubbling urgency that Sonic Youth have been meandering around for longer than these guys [sic] have probably been alive.” (Torontoist)

“Somehow, all these elements combine into an epic whole, a work of near­ religious catharsis so simple and powerful that the countless hours I’ve spent combing through social networking pages to find music I actually can care about are justified in merely 2:43.” (Toro Magazine)

“Let’s just get this out of the way: I think Josh McIntyre, the frontman and sole creative force behind emerging Toronto band Little Girls, is a genius.” (Toro Magazine)